The Campaign Builder's Guild

Maybe this has been asked before, but I don't think so.

How do you keep track of your thoughts, ideas and notes for your world? Currently I am entering much of the notes for Marit into a MS publisher template for web pages. That lets me keep various items such as race, magic, history on separate pages and link to other pages as if it was a wiki. Of course I also have various scraps of paper with quick ideas on them

Does anyone use other programs to organize your game world? or just a notebook and pen?

What are the "best practices" out there?

Don't claim to be anywhere near 'the best' at this, I think I've fianlly moved up to 'not worthless' at this.  But, here's what got me there.

I use MS access to keep track of all my databases.  Weapons, armors, skills, spells (STUPID SPELLS... :muffy: AARRG!), prices, costs, the tale of years, all are in database format.
And all the stuff now gets thrown onto the wiki.
I include entries in the 'taler of years' for the pc's, so I have a ton of entries at the end of a session in there, (PC's did this, PC's did that).

I don't know much about databases, or rather I don't have the programs mentioned, otherwise I might use them.

I've tried to keep most of my information on the website, but I haven't updated that in a while.

When the wikifarm is ready, I'll probably put some more current information there, because I'm currently working on an earlier time period than what the website displays.

Lacking much tech-saavy-ness, I take random notes on a piece of paper I carry with me at all times, so I don't forget a good idea. All of that gets shoved into a long bulleted list in MS Word. In seperate documents, I mostly keep my world organized by country, with a few others for major races and overall information about the multiverse. These files are kept in folders by region. It's not sophisticated, but it works for me.

I keep some notebooks convenient to catch stray ideas, and gradually distill those ideas into more refined form before/during typing them up. Some of the typed-up business gets posted, but much of it just sits in .doc files on my computer.

I'm pretty disorganized, I guess. I have several different notebooks scattered around the apartment (and I can't even tell where all of them are located and what's in each one.) My digital files are pretty much all over the place, too; I've got old information, new information, unfinished information, posted information and unposted information all mingling around.

Here's what I think would be an awesome piece of software: emulate a notebook.

Not like a word processor, either. I mean, give me places to type terms, character ideas, plot ideas, notes on locations, et cetera, and let me sort them together by type. Let me drag and drop things to reorder them, let me look at lots of things in different tabs. Let me drop in an image (or sketch one in-program) and type labels on top of it if I want to. Then let me save the whole shebang as a single file: "my world."

Basically, I want the ease of organization and editing that digital media provide, and I want the flexibility and "sketchability" that I get with a notebook. 'Cause that'd be awesome.

LC, it sounds like what you need most of all is a blog that you can designate things with tags.  Much like ::gasp:: a new CBG option will be!! :) :)

Quote from: IshmaylLC, it sounds like what you need most of all is a blog that you can designate things with tags.  Much like ::gasp:: a new CBG option will be!! :) :)

Dun dun duuuuun...?

Ishmayl, if what you're offering is anywhere close to what LC described, sign me up.  That's what I want.

All of my stuff is either (1) in my head, (2) in a word file, (3) on a website, (4) in some forums, (5) in a random notebook, or (6) in a random piece of paper wadded up somewhere around here...

I rarely feel in danger of losing valuable information, but I do sometimes wonder how I keep track of it all.  I started to put all of Aldreia into one giant PDF, which works well except that it's a hassle to use and update.  So now I'm just kinda winging it.

Quote from: Luminous CrayonHere's what I think would be an awesome piece of software: emulate a notebook.

Not like a word processor, either. I mean, give me places to type terms, character ideas, plot ideas, notes on locations, et cetera, and let me sort them together by type. Let me drag and drop things to reorder them, let me look at lots of things in different tabs. Let me drop in an image (or sketch one in-program) and type labels on top of it if I want to. Then let me save the whole shebang as a single file: "my world."

Basically, I want the ease of organization and editing that digital media provide, and I want the flexibility and "sketchability" that I get with a notebook. 'Cause that'd be awesome.

Have you looked at this?  I haven't checked it out 100%, but I have looked at it, and it seems like it may do some of the things you mention.

Edit:
Actually LC, besides the option of just dragging-and-dropping pictures, this program looks to be exactly what you're looking for.  Take a look at the Screenshots page.

Quote from: IshmaylHave you looked at this?  I haven't checked it out 100%, but I have looked at it, and it seems like it may do some of the things you mention.

Edit:
Actually LC, besides the option of just dragging-and-dropping pictures, this program looks to be exactly what you're looking for.  Take a look at the Screenshots page.

This thing is incredible. :yumm:

Personally, I just let all the information stew in my head. The idea is that my mind works like a vat, and the good ideas stay afloat and in my memory, while the bad ones sink to the bottom.

Quote from: Luminous Crayon

Coolest. Smiley. Ever.

We run a cooperative campaign of 3-4 DM's in the ADMC world, so we design things in several Wikis - one is public to the players, one is for rules work, and a third for plot. Many ideas spring up during a phone conversation or chat, and we immediately jot it down to a "new ideas" section in the Wiki. These are later elaborated on together.

More than tools, I think the sharing of ideas and designing things together has added immense depth to the ADMC world and made the campaigns memorable.

ADMC Setting

Okay, for those of you who are using Freemind how are you setting it up? I have to admit I downloaded this program a few months ago because is was mentioned on the site and liked it, but not until everyone started talking about it did I realize that I was really missing using it to its potential.

Before I had just used it to map out an adventure for my face to face game, but now I see the potential for such things as Marit's history since I can draw lines between various nodes and even color code them.

How are you using it.

(And how can I get it on my computer at work without getting in trouble for it?)

I'm still learning the ropes, but I'm essentially doing everything with keyboard commands, not really needing the mouse at all. I rock out with the arrow keys, Insert, Enter, and the Space Bar, and that's all I need.

(Okay, so I occasionally use Alt+E and Alt+I, and more rarely, I draw the arrows. Arrows are fun.)

This morning, I tried out FreeMind as a note-taking utility in one of my classes, and it worked impressively well. I could get down a lot of information rapidly, and could arrange it in a logical way, without being distracted about formatting. I took much more detailed notes than I usually do, simply because it was so easy to do so.

I have been experimenting with using FreeMind to put together lesson plans. I can put each day, or each unit, or each topic into a separate branch of cells, and manage a month's worth of planning in a single file (while still having it easy to see.) That's awesome.

I'm also toying with the idea of using FreeMind during class (while teaching, that is), with my laptop hooked up to a projector. As an alternative to writing notes on the markerboard during discussion, etc. If I try it out, I'll let you know how it goes.

For campaign setting stuff, I've got a bunch of content branches, a bunch of uncategorized "wouldn't this be cool"-style ideas in a branch of their own and a short to-do list. I don't keep any prose in the file (yet?), but it's sort of a reminder of all my big ideas which I'll translate to prose later.

Also, you should be able to truthfully convince whoever you work for that FreeMind is a valuable asset to your work. Depending on what you do, I guess. It's tremendously useful, and I already use it more for work than I do for play.